The City of Toronto will provide a safe work environment for its employees. In doing so, the City will take all reasonable and practical measures to eliminate or minimize injury or incident risks associated with the nature of the work performed when employees work alone. The intent of this policy is to protect workers from probable risk of injury from health and safety hazards because of working alone. Potential violence hazards that exist for employees who work alone are addressed in the Workplace Violence policy and are therefore not intended to be addressed by this policy.

Application

This policy applies to all City of Toronto employees.

Definition

Working Alone: to work alone at any time in the shift where assistance is not readily available from a co-worker or expected from a member of the public when needed in the normal course of duties or in the event of an injury, illness or emergency

Responsibilities

Management Staff of Divisions will:

Communicate this policy and its procedures to employees who work alone

Conduct a hazard assessment to identify existing or potential hazards related to the nature of the work or the work environment given the circumstances of the work when working alone

Take all reasonable and practical steps to minimize or eliminate identified injury or incident risks

In cases where hazards are identified, establish an effective means of communication between the employee and persons capable of responding to the employee’s needs

Conduct further hazard assessments at intervals of time appropriate to the changing conditions and circumstances of the worker’s job (e.g., changes in work organization, physical environment or equipment and tools)

Annually review the effectiveness of the hazard controls and procedures and make improvements as required